Author Archives: Robin Houghton

About Robin Houghton

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Sarah Barnsley joins Telltale

We’re absolutely delighted to welcome our newest member, Sarah Barnsley.

Sarah Barnsley was born in 1974 grew up in the Midlands. She was shortlisted for an Eric Gregory Award (2004), the Bridport Prize (2010), and was joint runner-up in the Poetry School/Pighog Pamphlet Competition (2014). Sarah teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has published poems in a range of magazines, as well as essays on American modernist poetry. Her first book of literary criticism, Mary Barnard, American Imagist, was published by SUNY Press in 2013. Sarah lives in Hove.

We’ll be publishing Sarah’s pamphlet later in the year, so watch out for further news of that. She will also be one of our readers at the next ‘Telltale Poets & Friends’ event at the Poetry Cafe on June 18th.

A great night at the Lewes Arms

Telltale Poets and Friends at the Lewes Arms

Peter Kenny, Siegfried Baber, Helen Fletcher & Martin Malone

Telltale Press & Friends took the Lewes Arms by storm last night, battling a train derailment, a ukulele group next door, and the warmest day of the year so far. . . but the room was full, everybody was happy and it was fantastic to see so many friendly faces.

Unfortunately Ryan Whatley wasn’t able to make it, but Siegfried Baber stepped up with about ten minutes’ notice and read from his new pamphlet, When Love Came To The Cartoon Kid. Although the pamphlet launches officially next month, our Lewes audience got a sneak preview and sales were good.

Peter Kenny was marvellous as the opening reader, performing one long poem from memory to great effect, and in the second half we heard readings from Helen Fletcher and Martin Malone. Helen had come all the way from Carlisle, and Martin from Warwickshire. Both were well received and the evening felt like a wonderful mix of styles and subject matter, not to mention a groovy poet get-together.

In the audience was a fearsome array of poetic talent, including many of the Lewes literati, plus Stephen Bone, a brilliant supporter of the press (read Robin’s review of his collection ‘In the Cinema’), and Roy Marshall who was there partly to get Martin home before the witching hour.

We also announced our latest Telltale Poet – but more about her shortly!

Huge thanks to our helpers & invaluable supporters Lorraine and Nick, and to the folks at the Lewes Arms for their hospitality … we’ll be back!

Announcing our newest member Siegfried Baber

The Telltale collective is expanding! We’re delighted to announce that Siegfried Baber has come on board and we’ll be publishing his pamphlet When Love Came to the Cartoon Kid…

STOP PRESS – pamphlet launch in Bath on May 13th at Topping’s Bookshop!

Siegfried joined us for ‘Telltale Poets and Friends’ at the Poetry Cafe in January and everyone was impressed with his work and the confidence of his reading. Associate Editor Catherine Smith praised his ‘distinct voice and great imagery’ and we’re all very excited. We’ll be looking to have a launch event in Bath, and there’ll be more opportunities to hear Sieg read, so we’ll keep you posted about that.

Siegfried Baber

Siegfried Baber was born in Barnstaple, Devon in 1989. Since graduating from Bath Spa University with a degree in Creative Writing, he lives and works in the city as a freelance writer, and as a barman in Bath’s finest pub, The Star Inn. His poetry has featured in a variety of publications including Under The Radar, The Interpreters House, Butcher’s Dog Magazine, Peleton: 2013 Templar Anthology, and as part of the Bath Literature Festival.

Telltale interviewed at Sphinx

Helena Nelson of HappenStance interviewed Robin Houghton about Telltale Press and publishing collectives on the Sphinx website.

Read the article here…Are publishing co-operatives the answer?

Lovely evening of readings at the Poetry Cafe

Readers at the Telltale Press event, Poetry Cafe, 7th Jan 2015

L to R: Robin Houghton, Peter Kenny, Rhona McAdam, Catherine Smith, Siegfried Baber

Last Wednesday we kicked off the New Year with a super evening at the Poetry Cafe  – more about it here on Poetgal. We’re already looking forward to the next one – will keep you posted!

Happy New Year – join us at the Poetry Cafe

First week into the New Year we’re back on the road at the Poetry Cafe, or as Peter Kenny eloquently puts it:

“After the orgy of booze-fuelled ribaldry that is December, why not turn over a new leaf in 2015 and make your first social outing one for the soul? Poetry from the outstanding Canadian poet Rhona McAdam, the frankly steamy Catherine Smith, shining new talent Siegfried Baber, plus the multi-prize winning Robin Houghton and myself in the centre of London.”

Yee-haa! Please come, bring your friends and let’s get started on 2015 with some shiny new poetry. Rhona McAdam is over from Canada, so take this opportunity to hear a brilliant talent… and Catherine Smith’s ‘The New Cockaigne’ is a fantastic, rollicking satirical tale in verse.

Free entry, all welcome … we hope to see you there, and will have news of our plans for 2015 and beyond.

With best wishes for a fantastic Christmas and New Year…

January at the Poetry Cafe

RhonaMcAdam_AuthorPhoto2_CreditAlexisYobbagyWe’re planning another Telltale & Friends reading at the Poetry Cafe on January 7th 2015, when one of our guest readers will be Rhona McAdam, a fine Canadian poet whose sixth full-length poetry collection, Ex-ville, is published by Oolichan Books this month.

Rhona spent some years in London and still returns regularly, so we’re delighted she can join us in January.

Meanwhile we’re also hoping to introduce the next Telltale Poet – exciting!

(Photo: Alexis Yobbagy)

New review of ‘Great Vowel Shift’ on Sabotage

‘The Great Vowel Shift’ has received a wonderful review by Afric McGlinchey on Sabotage Reviews

“Robin Houghton’s chapbook, beautifully produced by Telltale Press, is an engaging collection of amuse-bouches, alternating droll, ‘slant’ narratives with subtle poignancy.”

“…her poems live equally comfortably in rural (riverine) and urban environments, and her diversity, cultural references and lack of self-consciousness are really refreshing.”

Read the review here…

 

Telltale launches in Lewes & Hove

Hove Telltale Launch event

Catherine Smith, Peter Kenny and Robin Houghton at the Hove launch

Last night was the second of our private launches for Peter Kenny’s The Nightwork, and joining us to read were Catherine Smith (who also read last week in Lewes) and John McCullough, who entertained us marvellously despite only recently getting back from Japan.

Peter Kenny reading at the Lewes launch of Telltale Press

Peter Kenny reading at the Lewes launch

Our venues were quite different – last week we were in the meeting room of The Hive, a really nice cosy space with a big pot plant in the corner – we put tealights on the mantlepiece and it had a salon feel. Then last night we were in the big, bright airy space of Cameron Contemporary Art in Hove, a wonderful gallery with floor to ceiling windows all down one side. Everyone remarked how quiet and classy it was, plus lots of lovely artwork to view of course.

I’m rather jinxed when it comes to filming so I can’t say yet whether we managed to capture any of the readings successfully, but I hope so. If and when we have something in the bag we’ll post it here.

So, two fab evenings done, one public launch event to go – next Wednesday at the Poetry Cafe, the day before National Poetry Day, so we hope we manage to get an audience!

Exciting news in the build up to our launch readings

It’s all happening at Telltale Towers! Checklists galore, last minute wobbles (will we have enough chairs? glasses?)…

Some great news came in the last few days. First of all, Telltale’s first pamphlet, Robin Houghton’s ‘The Great Vowel Shift’ has just had a super review by Clare Best in The Frogmore Papers. Secondly, one of our London launch guest poets, Rishi Dastidar, has just been named as one of the two new Assistant Editors at The Rialto.

Exciting times … do come to hear Rishi, Anja, Peter & Robin reading at The Poetry Cafe on October 1st, we’ve all got publications to sell, so it’s free to get in but it might cost you a pamphlet to get out!